Qingtian stone carving

International exhibitions

Between the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, Qingtian stone carvings appeared several times at major domestic and international fairs and exhibitions.

• In 1900, the Qing government spent 150,000 taels of silver to build an exhibition hall at the Exposition Universelle where Qingtian stone carvings were permitted to be sold wholesale.
• In 1904, Chen Qi, a native of Qingtian, attended the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis as a Qing imperial commissioner, together with more than twenty fellow townsmen including Lin Zhuzhai and Fu Tingkui, bring Qingtian stone carvings for exhibition.
• In 1905, Qingtianese merchants including Wu Qiankui and Lin Zicai brought stone carvings and other goods to the Liège International Exposition in Belgium, where they won a bronze medal.^[7]
• In 1910, the 2nd year of Xuantong reign, Qingtian stone carvings were exhibited at the Nanyang Industrial Exposition in Nanking and won a silver medal.
• In 1915, after the completion of the Panama Canal, the United States held the Panama Pacific International Exposition. Chen Qi was appointed by the Yuan Shikai government as supervisor of China's participation and director of the preparatory bureau, and the exhibited Qingtian stone carvings won a silver medal.^[8]

Era of prosperity

The expansion of overseas markets promoted the rapid growth in the production of Qingtian stone carving. From 1920 to 1936, the craft entered a flourishing period. According to contemporary records, by the late Qing period, there were more than one thousand stone carvers in Qingtian. A 1931 field survey by Wang Heng, an investigator of the Zhejiang Provincial Design Association, estimated that Qingtian stone carvings were produced at about 10,000 boxes per year, with ordinary, medium-grade and special-grade boxes priced at around 30, 60, and 120 Chinese yuan respectively. The annual output value was estimated at about 700,000 yuan. Nearly one hundred people were engaged specificially in quarrying, while more than 2,100 people worked primarily as carvers.^[9]

During the Republican period, shops which specialized in selling Qingtian stone carvings were established in major cities along China's southeastern coast, including Wenzhou, Putuo, Shanghai, and Nanjing. Many of these shops also maintained their own workshops, employing stone carvers and combining production with sales. According to the 1933 Records of Chinese Industry (中國實業志), there were 70 to 80 stone-carving workshops in Qingtian and Wenzhou at the time, with the largest workshops employing nearly 40 artisans. Male workers accounted for about three quarters of the workforce, while female workers accounted for the remaining one quarter.^[10]

Up until the eve of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Shanghai had the largest consumer market for Qingtian stone carvings. The products sold there included ornamental objects such as flower vases, flowerpots, brush racks, miniature landscapes, folding screens, brush washers, figure and Buddhist images, and seals. Because Shanghai was then China's leading treaty-port city and was connected to Wenzhou by regular steamship services, Qingtian stone carvings intended for markets in Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia were generally first shipped to Shanghai. From there, they were exported by stone-carving merchants, including shops such as Jinyuxiang Bookshop (金玉相圖書店), Qishizhai (奇石齋) and Dongshi Company (凍石公司) mainly clustered in the area around Yu Garden.^[11]

Cultural Revolution

In the winter of 1966, after the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution, many stone carvings depicting classical and traditional subjects were destroyed after being denounced as expressions of the "Four Olds" (四旧), and as "reactionary" works propagating the feudal ideals of "loyal ministers and worthy generals" (忠臣良将) and "talented scholars and beautiful women" (才子佳人). From 1967 to 1969, as like the factional conflicts in most of China at the time, Qingtian too was also torn apart by the local rebel factions named "Gongnongbing" (工农兵) and "Qinggezong" (青革总), and the violent struggles between the two mutually hostile camps had brought severe disruption to the production of stone carvings, some workshops in the town were, at one point, even seized and occupied as factional strongholds.^[14]

The industry gradually resumed thereafter. Works during this era emphasized overtly Maoist political and ideological themes, with state-approved revolutionary operas and narratives becoming major subjects. Production expanded substantially in the later years of the Cultural Revolution as society moved on from early chaos and China's international relations improved, although it continued to be interrupted by later political campaigns such as Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius. During Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China, 500 Qingtian stone carvings of small elephants which symbolize the Republican Party were ordered and shipped back to the United States.^[15]

Reform and opening up

With the fall of the Gang of Four in 1976, Qingtian stone carving entered a renewed period of recovery and development. By the early 1980s, it had once again been incorporated into national arts-and-crafts exhibitions, award programmes, and media coverage.^[14]

In May 1978, during a visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea by Hua Guofeng, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Qingtian stone carving Herd of Horses (群马) was chosen as a state gift and presented to North Korean leader Kim II Sung. Thereafter, Qingtian stone carvings were frequently exhibited at arts-and-crafts exhibitions in China and abroad, and received awards including the Hundred Flowers Award for Chinese Arts and Crafts (中国工艺美术百花奖).^[15][16]

On 15th December, 1992, China's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued a set of special postage stamps entitled Qingtian Stone Carving, depicting Spring (春), Sorghum (高粱), Bumper Harvest (丰收), and Flowers in Full Moon (花好月圆). In the same year, Qingtian held a ceremony marking the first issue of the stamps as well as the inaugural Qingtian Stone Carving Cultural Festival (青田石雕文化节). These events further expanded the presence of Qingtian stone carving beyond the handicraft field into and the popular culture of China.^[17]

In 2004, Qingtian stone carving was listed in the first batch of representative works of provincial intangible cultural heritage of Zhejiang, and was subsequently listed among Zhejiang's nominations for the first national list of intangible cultural heritage. In January 2006, Qingtian stone carving was formally included in the first national list of intangible cultural heritage of China. 7 artisans specializing in the field were awarded the honorary title Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts by the Chinese State Council.^[1]

At the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, 195 Qingtian stone portrait seals were presented to participating dignitaries. At the 2014 APEC summit in Beijing, each of the 21 participating heads of state or government received a Qingtian seal.^[18]

In recent years, the study and dissemination of Qingtian stone carving have become increasingly institutionalized. The establishment of the Qingtian Stone Carving Research Centre, a research base for Qingtian seal studies, specialist journals, and related publications has contributed to the systematic cataloguing of carving techniques and their transmission to the wider public. Programmes produced by China Central Television (CCTV), including Treasure Hunt (寻宝), Travel Across China (走遍中国), Exploration and Discovery (探索·发现), and National Treasure Archives (国宝档案), have also featured Qingtian stone carving on several occasions.^[19]